Funny place, Australia. We’ve got all these tales we like to tell about ourselves, like how no one person is more important than any other person, and no one should be allowed to tell anyone else what to do.

Joel's Recent Comments

There's a large movement at the moment in the AFL to have fewer games. I think it was Patrick Dangerfield I saw recently on some show (might have been Footy Classified) saying, as AFLPA President, that there was an emerging consensus that the men have to play too much footy. It's causing injuries, it's making players worn out, it hurts the quality of football later in the season and it shortens careers. So what might be brewing is a plan to start the men's season three or four weeks later, but keep the grand final date the same, and eliminate the pre-season competition entirely. Which would coincidentally open some extra space for the women.

If Nine hadn't bought the tennis, I think they would have had considerable interest in acquiring the AFLW. They'll be much less interested now, though.
Playing any time in summer is pretty silly, but there's no way the AFL will consider putting AFLW against the men for another four or five years at least, so this is what we're stuck with. Yes January's hot, but February/March are also very hot, especially in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and a few degrees here and there won't make a huge difference. Better grounds with better lights would help with more night games, but getting out beyond ten teams will make scheduling problems -- they can't all be played at night. Maybe they could look at Thursday or Monday nights?
It will be a long time until the women start playing regularly at Docklands, if ever. But the difference between Whitten or Norwood Ovals, and Olympic Park Oval or Casey Fields, is night and day.

Definitely true. But I hear rumblings about player dissatisfaction with the way WA women's football is run, and you have to question why so many WA players were so keen to leave. The Eagles and Dockers will want to get that sorted out between them, or there won't be enough good players to go around.